58
What is the PSL's plan for revolution? (hexbear.net)
submitted 1 month ago by Nopeace@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've been getting involved with PSL and decided to apply to join. One thing I think is really important that I don't know how to ask them without sounding like a straight up fed is: "what is the plan to turn class consciousness into revolution?" like, I'm willing to do all these typical organizational efforts but only if there's actually a plan towards revolution and not just some nebulous hope that enough class consciousness will just make a revolution happen. If anyone from PSL can illuminate this for me I would really appreciate it. Obvi, don't like put yourself or the org in danger by answering, so if you need to be vague that's alright.

I don't even know if I'm allowed to ask this here tbh. If not, mods feel free to remove this post

top 29 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] happybadger@hexbear.net 77 points 1 month ago

Both the USSR and PRC inherited the ashes of empire. They didn't cause revolution, they were just there when there was no option but something different. The Bolsheviks and Maoists had the most disciplined power structures to replace it with something that promised/met the basic needs of the people.

I think PSL has the best chance at succeeding for the same reason I think the 1960s/70s Black Panthers had the clearest path to revolution. Their Marxist-Leninist framework means they can build coherent dual structures. When nobody can afford soup, they can run an organised soup kitchen while my local Food Not Bombs is a clusterfuck full of clique drama. They're the org that encourages reading the most books and they have the most formal processes to avoid the pitfalls of non-hierarchical mass movements like Occupy or BLM. In their absence I think DSA has the same basic role, but their ideological murkiness creates a lot more internal tension and their entryist membership is a big security risk.

[-] Nopeace@hexbear.net 20 points 1 month ago

i guess im being too idealistic probably. this does seem like a very realistic goal, even though it isnt exactly what i want, i do see that it can lead to that.

[-] Awoo@hexbear.net 34 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Keep in mind that even Lenin didn't think he would see revolution in his lifetime and there really isn't another person who has been or perhaps ever will be a more effective revolutionary.

[-] AF_R@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

To add to the example. In the early days of the CPC’s struggle, signing up to be a Communist was a death sentence. Whether it was Japanese or Nationalist bullets, or torture, or starvation, or freezing to death. They knew this.

And yet they struggled. Against impossible odds, they fought and sacrificed and died so that their comrades might see the light of a better nation. They marched until 10,000 were left, against the most advanced and powerful nations in the world, and turned that into the People’s Republic of China. For 50 years they struggled and planned before even getting a glimpse of the top of the hill of poverty.

I see this potential in the American left. Not the online left, not the Hexbears or TrueAnons or Hasan viewers. But 10,000 real American revolutionaries, I could see.

To be honest the online left doomer-pills me. Nobody in the online left spaces will be a revolutionary, including me. Too labor-averse and struggle-averse and unable to see past the infinite personal offenses they take to ever call a comrade a comrade.

But 10,000… I could see.

[-] GoodGuyWithACat@hexbear.net 24 points 1 month ago

They also have to deal with being in the heart of the most technologically advanced police state in history. If the PSL was agitating for armed revolution, they'd be targeted by every possible arm of the law.

[-] gayspacemarxist@hexbear.net 13 points 1 month ago

It's also not a realistic objective at this stage. Building the party and gaining political legitimacy is a much more pressing priority and leaves more diplomatic options on the table.

[-] happybadger@hexbear.net 20 points 1 month ago

Unfortunately we can't choose history. It's just continuity and rupture. The empire's contradictions will mount until something breaks, and when it does we need to be the most informed people with the most intersectional critique and the numbers to act on it. Those numbers aren't growing PSL itself- vanguardists are professionals- but expanding the number of community things PSL is involved in. In my DSA chapter I'm a communist by organising around the stewardship of urban greenspace and the labour organising of city employees. The result is more neighbours seeing leftists as something other than scary radicals coming for their toothbrush. We're the group that steps up to do community work which builds real democratic community beyond what the state offers, like Black Panthers putting up stop signs where the city wouldn't. Being a communist is just reading as much as you can about everything and then applying it in your praxis wherever you see weak points in the current system. More than anything else, class consciousness comes from people seeing the new stop sign and seeing that fellow workers put it up themselves to protect their neighbours.

[-] starkillerfish@hexbear.net 60 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

no one plans a revolution. even the bolsheviks didn't have a plan to take over the government until the day before. the process of organising towards the revolution is the process of party building (developing links with worker movements, growing the membership of the party, growing its capacity etc.). i also recommend asking someone at psl who you are in active contact with. it wouldnt hurt.

[-] decaptcha@hexbear.net 29 points 1 month ago

I'm not in PSL but my understanding is the "plan" is to build worker power and create the preconditions for revolution. First things first. This is in their party platform IIRC. I doubt you'll get anything more specific for reasons you cite.

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 25 points 1 month ago

Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook

[-] Nopeace@hexbear.net 17 points 1 month ago

holy shit this is absolutely incredible. thank you omg thank you they-were-comrades

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I should warn you that my friends and I all read this in high school and now we're old and not one of us has couped any etats. Then again we were using the earlier edition that put a lot of emphasis on seizing radio stations.

Edit - So I knew the author was a neo-con, but damn, some of this is pretty ugly stuff. CWs for chauvinism, Islamophobia, and so on.

pp 15-16

My true aim in writing this book was entirely different: it was to explore the meaning of politics in the many backward countries politely described as “emerging.” Some, including South Korea, have well and truly emerged since then, but many others have not—Islam in particular seems to be an insurmountable obstacle to democratic governance.

[-] gayspacemarxist@hexbear.net 11 points 1 month ago

"Democratic governance" sounds like a stand in for white capitalist hegemony

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago

Yes. Fortunately the book is enough of a satire that you can decide it's also a parody of itself.

[-] gayspacemarxist@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

No thanks I've had enough crackers for today

[-] Nopeace@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago

Yeah I saw that and was immediately able to answer the question of "what are this dudes politics" lmao. I think I'll still read through it all though, I'll just ignore all the chud shit

[-] jack@hexbear.net 23 points 1 month ago

Best move is to talk to the comradess you're joining up with about this. I'd echo @starkillerfish@hexbear.net about how you don't plan a revolution, you prepare for revolutionary conditions.

[-] dastanktal@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Frso also has a similar goal. My understanding of these parties, PSL has a Trotskyist origin and it continues to struggle against that, where FRSO was found by Maoists.

~~I am likely to join which ever org is closest to me.~~

Edit:

FRSO Has some chauvinistic tendencies regarding indigenous people and land back in the United States. See the comment chain below.

Really, it seems like PSL might be the best communist org to join after some cursory research.

Hard to tell without spending a lot of time reading the party material

[-] jack@hexbear.net 19 points 1 month ago

PSL has a Trotskyist origin and it continues to struggle against that

While it's true PSL was founded by former members of a Marcyite Trostkyist party, nothing about how the party operates or what its line is has ever really been Trotskyist in any meaningful way. We have neither the tactical/strategic/structural orientation of Trots nor the geopolitical/historical/anti-imperialist political analysis of Trots.

[-] dastanktal@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 month ago

I appreciate the updated info, Comrade, and I will keep this in mind as I talk about these orgs in the future

[-] Jabril@hexbear.net 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

FRSO basically doesn't exist in comparison to size of PSL.

They also hold a strong western chauvinist line about colonialism and the national sovereignty of Indigenous people in North America.

[-] jack@hexbear.net 15 points 1 month ago

They also hold a strong western chauvinist line about colonialism and the national sovereignty of Indigenous people in North America.

which is especially wild given their center of operations is in Minneapolis, one of the most native urban areas in the country

[-] bunnossin@hexbear.net 10 points 1 month ago

They also hold a strong western chauvinist line about colonialism and the national sovereignty of Indigenous people in North America.

they HUH

[-] ProletarianDictator@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

They also hold a strong western chauvinist line about colonialism and the national sovereignty of Indigenous people in North America.

Can you substantiate this?

[-] Jabril@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago
[-] dastanktal@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 month ago

Holy crap, this is worse than I thought. They literally ignore years and years of indigenous history.

It reads like a high schooler trying to excuse settler colonialism in the United States as "Ancient history"

Thank you for highlighting this. I did not know about this with the FRSO.

[-] Jabril@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago

Here's a thread from when article first came out : https://hexbear.net/post/4043628

[-] dastanktal@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 month ago

Wow, I did not know that. I will definitely keep that in mind as I'm looking at membership for these orgs in the future.

[-] Jabril@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

Yes if there's literally no other options I would look into starting something local or starting a chapter of something like PSL

this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2026
58 points (100.0% liked)

askchapo

23272 readers
113 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net
replaceable@hexbear.net
VILenin@hexbear.net
SexUnderSocialism@hexbear.net
Wakmrow@hexbear.net
abc@hexbear.net